


lifestyle of the rich and famous (i think we're just young and shameless)

by transming



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Breaking and Entering, Crimes & Criminals, Friends to Lovers, Luxury, M/M, Non-Linear Narrative, Partners in Crime, but theyre still kids at heart, how do you tag breaking into a mansion to live as fancy boys for a night, minimal angst, teotfw au kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:02:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21999436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transming/pseuds/transming
Summary: Maybe sometimes, just sometimes, on the absolute rarest of occasions, Jaemin should think twice before following Donghyuck.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Na Jaemin
Comments: 3
Kudos: 44
Collections: WIP OLYMPICS: WINTER 2019/20





	lifestyle of the rich and famous (i think we're just young and shameless)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [funkism](https://archiveofourown.org/users/funkism/gifts).



> for my lovely nat thank u for this prompt and for giving me actual money to write this thats,,,,, so crazy to think wow. look at me,, , bein an author, , 
> 
> i hope this does your prompt justice and is as luxurious and spicy as you wanted ! it was an absolute JOY to write and im v excited to post it
> 
> this also turned into a the end of the fucking world au on accident but its not nearly as funny nor dramatic as the show so dw about anything Too Dark
> 
> anyway heres a [playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3VsdAtn8rTjfV8jkwDWHrd?si=DpdTPP7XRsWn4tMalZRmCA) that i threw together last minute it has The Vibes yknow
> 
> happy reading!!

Jaemin watches the bubbles in his crystal flute under the flickering light of the extravagant fireplace in front of him. If he focuses hard enough he can just make out the fizzing sound above the crackling of logs and the staticky jazz music chiming loud in the quiet room. The couch beneath his legs is soft, his toes buried between the cushions. He's so comfortable he considers falling asleep, maybe napping for an hour or two. 

Now's not the time for that, though. 

"Are you asleep?" Donghyuck squawks, reappearing through the bathroom door. 

"No." Jaemin hadn't even realised his eyes were closed. "Dude I'm so awake right now." 

A scoff. "Sure." 

Jaemin sits up with great physical and emotional effort. "Look, I'm up." 

Donghyuck rolls his eyes and pushes off the door frame with his hip. "Well, I _was_ going to suggest we have a bath but if you're just going to fall asleep again…" 

"Ooooooooh." Jaemin blinks until his eyelids aren't drooping and Donghyuck swims into focus. "Yeah dude I'd love a bubble bath right now." 

"You can't fall asleep." Donghyuck warns, followed by a deep pout. "You know I get lonely." 

Jaemin laughs rather loudly. "I won't." He lies.

Donghyuck frowns for a second longer, perhaps gauging exactly how drunk Jaemin is, before conceding with an easy smile. "Alright. If you do fall asleep I'm not waking you up when you start drowning." 

Jaemin stands on Bambi legs. "Will you at least say nice things at my funeral?"

"'Cute butt. Could pull off pink hair like no one else. Occasionally funny.'" 

Jaemin cackles and hiccups and follows Donghyuck into the bathroom, shouldering him for good measure. 

* * *

Jaemin can't really remember whose idea it was, but if it comes down to it he'll happily do the time. Only because Donghyuck would be incredibly annoying about it otherwise and he deals with enough Donghyuck Tantrums™ as it is. (And it ends up that Jaemin is, technically speaking, the one who broke the window anyway.)

He does know that it took a whole night of meticulous planning; which in this case is a fancy way of saying Donghyuck picked a house at random and changed his mind three times before Jaemin agreed and they spent half an hour doing internet research before giving up and playing Overwatch for the rest of the night. It's whatever. It's an easy job. It's _fine_.

They'd agreed not to let their other friends in on it. _For their own safety_ Jaemin had thought at the exact same time Donghyuck had yelled "More shit for us!" Really though, Mark, Renjun and Jeno would have tried to talk them out of it, or told their parents,nor something equally as boring. He loves his friends, he really does, but they all have nice jobs and happy families and none of them know how to have _fun_ like he and Donghyuck do. They'll understand, probably. Eventually.

It's just the two of them tonight, and tomorrow, and the foreseeable future. Two boys against the world. 

More accurately, two boys against a pane of glass and a cheap security system. Piece of cake.

* * *

“Can pearls get wet?” 

Donghyuck’s giggling is muffled by the sound of rustling fabric and Jaemin doesn’t turn to look. “Aren’t they found in water?” 

He looks down at the shimmering pearls around his neck, stroking his thumb over the smooth surface of each one. The water stops running behind him. There's a small splash as Donghyuck climbs in the tub and Jaemin unceremoniously tugs his own pants off. 

"Yeah but that's seawater right? This is all.." He flaps his hand behind his back in the direction of the bright purple bath water. Goosebumps spring up his bare legs. "Glitter and chemicals."

"Don't forget soap." Donghyuck giggles. Jaemin decides to keep the necklace on - because it's just _too pretty_ to take off - and drops his shirt on the floor with his pants and clumsily kicks them away from the bathtub. He grabs his $500 crystal champagne flute and dips his toes into violet-coloured, lavender-scented bathwater. 

"Fuck!" He yanks his foot out immediately, kicking up bubbles as he does. "Shit that's fucking hot." 

He gapes at Donghyuck, fully submerged aside his mirthful eyes and half a head of hair. "Are you cooking yourself alive?" 

Donghyuck nods and lets his eyes slip shut. It takes a few more attempts before Jaemin gets too cold and gives up, letting himself drop into the tub with a small scream and a splash. Donghyuck grunts when Jaemin jostles him about, trying to figure out where to put his legs. The bath itself is as big as a small hot tub so it's not that there's a lack of space; it's that Donghyuck has mastered the art of taking up _too much_ space, purely to be annoying. Jaemin wiggles his toes under Donghyuck's thighs and slips under the water until he's mirroring him.

They stare at each other like lavender-scented crocodiles, unblinking, until Jaemin accidentally inhales a bubble and Donghyuck laughs so hard he nearly brains himself on the bath tap. 

* * *

Jaemin really doesn't know why he lets Donghyuck bully him into things. 

"You're stronger." He's saying, grin innocent and cat-like, while Jaemin wraps a dirty dish towel around his knuckles and questions his choice in friends. "You go to the gym. If I try I'm just gonna break my hand." 

"Isn't there, like, a brick I can use? Why does it have to be my bare hand?" 

"Don't be silly." Donghyuck says. "That's a human hand." 

Jaemin very nearly strangles Lee Donghyuck that night. 

"I'm kidding!" He screeches, hiding behind his own arms until Jaemin stops going for his throat. He giggles; Jaemin glares. "God. So _sensitive_."

Jaemin lasts a whole second of glaring at Donghyuck's batting eyelashes - a new record, truly - before he snorts out a laugh. "You're so fucking lame, dude." 

"You laughed." Donghyuck sing-songs. Jaemin rolls his eyes and shoves him off the doorstep. 

"Yeah, so what. I'm just as lame as you." 

Donghyuck steps back up and drops a heavy arm across Jaemin's shoulders. "That's what makes us such a great team." 

Jaemin matches his grin by the megawatt. "Okay, get your head out of my ass for a sec so I can flex my masculinity and win your heart with my handsome, strong and quietly humble self."

Donghyuck's responding laughter is subdued only by the need to keep a low-profile, his eyes gleaming in the porch light like fireflies in July-

Jaemin decides he needs to stop spending so much time with Renjun; waxing poetic over Jeno every time they're alone together is screwing up his cognitive function a little. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


Donghyuck finds a record player, a collection of pearls and the alcohol supply all within the first five minutes, because of fucking course he'd find all the cool stuff. Jaemin finds a pool table and a walk-in closet filled with fur coats and silk robes, which he argues is just as cool as a bottle of whisky from the 19th century. 

"Let's get drunk." Donghyuck declares while Jaemin is admiring himself in a glossy pink fur coat in one of the many mirrors hung around the closet. Donghyuck's brandishing a bottle of champagne like a war trophy, pearls wrapped around his wrist next to the scruffy, worn friendship bracelet Jaemin made when they were ten.

"Already?" Jaemin asks through a mouthful of fur.

"Why not?" Donghyuck squawks, always offended by the very idea of entertaining himself while _sober_. Jaemin has to be careful how he treads; one wrong step and Donghyuck will down the entire bottle of champagne just to spite him.

"Have you ever seen _The Princess Diaries?_ The second one?" He asks. Right outside the wardrobe in the master bedroom is a king sized bed with a king sized mattress, perfect for the king-mattress-sized staircase in the grand foyer just down the corridor. It's flawless.

Donghyuck squints, clutching the bottle closer to himself. "I think my sister made me watch it once. Why?" 

"I have an idea but if we're drunk it won't be as fun." Actually, it'll probably even more fun but Jaemin can only see that ending with a body at the bottom of the stairs. "Just trust me. It'll be awesome." 

Donghyuck stares suspiciously at Jaemin's placating smile before letting his grip on the champagne loosen just a fraction. "Fine. What is it?"

  
  


* * *

  
  


"This is dumb. And like, so fucking dangerous." Donghyuck says, at odds with the way he punctuates his sentence with a giddy laugh, like he can't believe what they're doing, like theres no way he's teetering over the top step of a grand staircase on a mattress that probably costs more than his entire house. 

Jaemin can relate; he's right there next to him. And yet, here they are. 

"Ready?" Jaemin laughs. The mattress slides a bit as he adjusts.

Donghyuck just screams, happy, excited, maybe a little bit manic, terrified, panicked, all of the above, and they tip the make-shift sled together.

There's a moment, a breath of time, an excited gasp of anticipation, where Jaemin's stomach drops and falls out of his ass and his hand clutches tighter to- whatever he's holding, the mattress, maybe, and they're free falling. Then the stairs appear, like an afterthought, a greeting a beat late, and the mattress-

-gets stuck.

Jaemin narrowly avoids flinging his body backwards like a seven year old throwing a particularly impressive tantrum, since they're still _on the stairs._ "AGH!" He yells instead, the verbal equivalent. "MOVE!" 

They shuffle their butts like two guys on a mattress that got stuck half-way down the stairs until it finally moves and slides and Jaemin grips- oh, Donghyuck's hand, okay- tighter as the marble floor flies straight towards them. 

They land with a sad little skid and Jaemin's butt is already aching from how bumpy it was but-

"That was so fucking fun." He laughs, catching his breath, staring up at the white ceiling while Donghyuck pants beside him. They're still holding hands, which isn't weird, since it's _Donghyuck_ , but. Jaemin's brain can't seem to focus on anything but Donghyuck's hand beneath his and _that's_ weird.

He clears his throat and looks at Donghyuck. "Wanna go again?" 

Donghyuck, eyes squeezed closed, mouth open, blissed out, lets his head flop to the side and cracks an eye open to stare at Jaemin. "Sure," He pants into the skin of Jaemin's neck, "Give me like ten minutes to catch my breath." 

Jaemin nods without jostling Donghyuck too much. "Okay. You have ten seconds." 

Donghyuck laughs and pulls back, mouth stretched into a lazy grin. "You're an asshole."

"Seven seconds." 

A hand lands on Jaemin's chest and he grabs it without thinking. _Now you're holding both of his hands!_ his brain screams like a teenage girl. "Five…. four….. three….." 

Donghyuck whines, very loud and very long, and swings himself into a sitting position, pulling his hands out of Jaemin's loose grip. Jaemin grins ear to ear and clambers to his feet, echoing laughter up the staircase. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


Jaemin's stomach is marinating 19th Century whisky and 21st Century French champagne when Donghyuck climbs into his lap, unprompted, and buries his face in Jaemin's neck. 

"Oh," Jaemin blinks his droopy eyes open, "Hello." 

"Good sir," Donghyuck says to Jaemin's adam apple, "I do believe I am drunk."

"I do believe you are correct." Jaemin replies to Donghyuck's hair. "Why are we speaking like this?" 

"Because, good sir," Donghyuck sits up with a hiccup and a wobble, "I am a Gemini." 

"Are you high?" Jaemin laughs. His hands come to rest on Donghyuck's hips, so he won't fall backwards. His borrowed shirt rides up a little, a slither of skin peeking out to say hello. 

"Nooooo not high. _Gemini_." Donghyuck asserts, like it's incredibly important Jaemin knows the difference. "Why aren't you drunk."

"I've had a drink. Several, in fact." He pokes Donghyuck in the stomach and revels in the squeak he lets out. A human sized squeaky toy. "You're just a lightweight." 

Donghyuck frowns, eyes closed, so Jaemin pokes him again. He bends over, so far Jaemin has to lean back so their foreheads don't clash. Donghyuck's mouth smells like expensive alcohol and his hair glows orange under the light from the fireplace. Jaemin's head is as heavy as the air when Donghyuck shifts on his lap, watching, gaze too low to make eye contact but still somewhere on his face, and Jaemin isn't sure how to proceed. 

"Dude." Donghyuck's tongue darts out for a second, a quick movement that Jaemin tries to follow with his eyes. "Would it be weird if I kissed you?"

Jaemin might be drunk. He doesn't even notice he's still staring at Donghyuck's lips. "Right now?"

"Yeah." Donghyuck shifts again, breath hot against Jaemin's cheeks. He thinks about it, for a moment, and concludes that yeah, he kind of wants to kiss Donghyuck.

"Guess not." He shrugs. "Go for it." 

Donghyuck doesn't kiss him. Instead he huffs air through his nose like a cat sneeze and pulls away. "Romantic." 

Jaemin frowns at Donghyuck's pout. "Should it be romantic?" 

Donghyuck's lips start moving back and forth, so Jaemin looks up and Donghyuck is shaking his head, the icon of a disappointed parent. "Forget it." He sighs and then Jaemin's lap is empty. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


"Let's dance." Donghyuck says while Jaemin is _still_ catching his breath from mattress surfing.

"Right now?" He pants, clutching his sides. _Man_ he's getting old. 

"No I was thinking more next week, are you free Saturday?" 

"Ha. Ha." Jaemin deadpans to the floor. 

"Come _on_ Gramps, the night is still young." 

"Yeah but I'm not." Jaemin mumbles and is completely ignored. Donghyuck tugs them into a bougie parlour, complete with a polar bear rug and fireplace. Jaemin gets planted in the centre of the room, and not, he notes sadly, on the very comfy looking couch that's long enough for both Jaemin _and_ his legs; an incredibly rare find. 

Donghyuck disappears to fiddle with an ancient-looking record player that really shouldn't work- oh look at that, it works. Something high tempo and swing-y starts playing and Jaemin just _has_ to dance now. 

He trots over to Donghyuck and offers a hand, bowing low, like all the men in the movies do. "May I?"

Donghyuck's small hand grips his own and Jaemin's heart melts. "I suppose." Donghyuck says, looking down his nose at Jaemin but leading the way to the makeshift dance floor. 

Jaemin really, really likes dancing with Donghyuck. It doesn't even matter what music is playing, Donghyuck will always find a way to start a Very Serious popping competition that Jaemin is absolutely always prepared to win (but never does because he _always_ ends up laughing first). 

In the end Jaemin runs out of his very limited collection of freestyle dance moves and just spins and spins until the room is a blur and so is Donghyuck and he can't tell if Donghyuck is still dancing or not but he _does_ know that he's making him laugh so he keeps spinning and spinning until the room spins back. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


The house, mansion, fucking _castle_ shakes so hard with the first explosion that Jaemin's half-full champagne flute almost vibrates off the coffee table, right alongside his empty glass of whisky. 

"Holy fuck." Donghyuck yells over the noise, fire in his eyes. He tugs the blanket tighter around his body, Jaemin letting a corner drop off his shoulder now that his own blanket is kicking in. 

"How are you still cold?" Jaemin asks. Donghyuck shushes him without looking away from the screen. 

"My favourite part is coming up." He hisses. 

Jaemin truthfully hasn't been paying much attention to the movie, too busy trying to get drunk as fast as possible. Based on how much his vision swims when he stands to relieve his bladder, he thinks he's been pretty successful. He pats himself on the back and almost trips when the blankets fall to his ankles.

"Where are you going." Donghyuck calls distractedly. 

"Gotta pee." 

Donghyuck waves a lump of blanket in his direction. "'Kay. Don't fall in." 

Jaemin pauses, swaying only the tiniest bit. He turns, swaying a little more, unsteady, _drunk,_ and plants himself in Donghyuck's lap. His arms are around his neck in the most loving chokehold and Donghyuck fucking _squeals_ , shoulders bunched up like a dented bottle neck. "Get off!" He squeaks around breathless laughter, obnoxiously loud movie turned into background noise. 

"You're a brat." Jaemin growls with all the ferocity of a petulant kitten, claws in Donghyuck's shoulder. Donghyuck makes a choked off noise, tongue lolling out of his mouth and he sags under Jaemin's grip. 

"Finally!" Jaemin announces to the room at large, flinging his arms wide open and nearly toppling off his perch. "I have slain the beast!" 

Then, for a reason Jaemin is too drunk to really care about, maybe for no reason at all, he plants a sloppy wet kiss on Donghyuck's forehead and stumbles on wobbly legs to the bathroom. 

"I'll get you for this!" Donghyuck calls, probably angrily wiping drool off his eyebrows if Jaemin knows him as well as he claims to. Jaemin lets the bathroom door slam behind him and slumps against it. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


The air is frigid and cold and Jaemin really, really wants to go back inside as soon as the balcony door swings open - soundless, because the owners of this place are rich enough to afford doors that don't rattle or creak when they move, go figure. Donghyuck, not cold in the slightest, pulls him over to the safety railing and points down. "Look." He says. "We can totally reach the pool from up here." 

Jaemin raises an eyebrow at him that might not be visible in the low lighting. "So?"

He senses the eye roll more than sees it happen. " _So_ this is like, the ultimate diving platform."

"And yet _mattress surfing_ is dangerous?" 

Donghyuck waves him off and nearly pokes Jaemin's eye out but doesn't seem to notice. "Fine, fine, we'll do this last." He looks back out across the backyard, further still to the lights of the city. His voice has gone all wistful when he says: "Go out with a bang, y'know?" 

"You're insane." Jaemin chuckles nervously, concerned for his own safety because he _knows_ Donghyuck is serious about this. 

Donghyuck shrugs and turns to go back inside, to crack open the alcohol no doubt, and Jaemin is more than eager to get his alcohol blanket on but-

"Where are we gonna go?" Jaemin has to ask. "After tonight."

Donghyuck doesn't turn around, but he does stop halfway through the door. "Dunno." 

"We can't stay." This should be obvious, he shouldn't _have_ to say it, but Jaemin can never tell the difference between when Donghyuck has a plan vs when he says he does but is actually winging it as he goes. 

"I know." Donghyuck says. Jaemin waits so long for him to continue he thinks he might have fallen asleep standing. "Let's just. Go." 

"Go?" 

The lights of the city glow bright in Donghyuck's eyes and if Jaemin tries, really really tries, he can maybe, possibly, see a future in them. 

"Yeah."

Jaemin nods like Donghyuck can see him, like he understands, like he's not worrying about what'll happen after. "Okay."

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


"Wait." Donghyuck is still wobbling away and Jaemin is only _just_ fast enough to grab an exposed ankle before Donghyuck goes too far. He feels like his brain is still trying to play catch up. "Was that payback for earlier?" 

Donghyuck doesn't look at him and Jaemin's stomach does a weird thing that kind of feels like indigestion but could also be guilt. Or alcohol. (Probably alcohol). "What?"

"The… y'know, the kiss?" 

Donghyuck _does_ look at him this time, and he looks sad. "Oh. Yeah." He fiddles with his shirt collar and looks away. "Sorry I'm like, really drunk." 

Jaemin tries to figure out why Donghyuck would suddenly be sad; he didn't say anything mean did he? The movie wasn't particularly upsetting. His birthday was definitely last month; there's no physical way anyone above acquaintanceship with Donghyuck could ever forget it. 

"'M gonna go pee." Donghyuck mumbles when Jaemin doesn't respond and shakes the hand off his leg. Jaemin nods, feeling awfully like he's missing something incredibly important, something that his brain just can't figure out with his wires all drenched in alcohol.

He crawls over to fiddle with the record player until it takes pity on his drunken fumbling and plays something jazzy and sad. He collapses back onto the couch, while Donghyuck makes absolutely no noise in the bathroom, and pours himself another drink.

The fire crackles: _Idiot_. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


Jaemin sits up with an abrupt splash when his feet have gone wrinkly, setting off an army of bubbles swirling amongst the steam. "Are we still going in the pool?" 

Donghyuck ferocious glare is dampened by the nest of bubbles in his hair. "Dude." 

"What's the time?" Jaemin continues, leaning out of the tub to grab his pants that are _just_ out of reach, come _on-_

"Dude." Donghyuck repeats, this time with feeling. "We left our phones at home." 

Jaemin processes this, torso draped over the side of the tub. "That was kind of dumb of us." 

Donghyuck shrugs and doesn't look all that worried. "Probably."

Jaemin blinks. "We should probably go soon." He stares at the marble tiles and greets the night end like a criminal greets a police officer after years of running; an inevitable, bittersweet meeting, with handcuffs and all. _It was nice while it lasted_. "Right?" 

A sigh, pained, bitter, a little intoxicated. "Yeah." 

Jaemin looks at the side of Donghyuck's head, "So… pool?"

Donghyuck looks at him, for a moment, a blink, and slips under the water. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


Jaemin really, really wishes he was imagining the blue and red lights in the driveway. 

"Hyuck." He calls, voice strangely calm, pants halfway up his knees. Donghyuck hums with his back turned, the fumbling of his belt loud in the tense silence. Jaemin's heart is thumping so loud in his chest he might be at risk of cardiac arrest. He squeaks, unable to voice just how absolutely, irrevocably _fucked_ they are.

He hears the exact moment Donghyuck turns and sees the lights, though his colourful curse is cut off by the front door knocking at them: _time's up_ . " _Fuck_."

"What do we do?" Jaemin can't take his eyes off the lights outside, off the black blurs moving in front of them, around the side of the house, one two three up the doorsteps. 

"We have to go." Donghyuck fiddles with his belt some more. Clothes are swept off the floor into bags, joining the whiskey, jewels and stacks of money. " _Jaemin!"_

Right. 

There's a duffle bag shoved in his arms. "Calm down." 

Right. Yes. Okay. Calm. He can be calm. 

The front door bursts open. Donghyuck shoves him out of the bathroom, along the hallway, there's footfall coming up the stairs behind them. Did they move the mattress?

"Jaem now really isn't the time to go catatonic on me." Donghyuck's voice only shakes a little as he yanks the patio doors, still soundless, open and shoves Jaemin through them. He blinks and breathes night air. 

"Okay. I'm back." He puts his backpack on, adopting a one-minded focus on getting the hell out of there, one baby step at a time, to battle the panicked _ohmygodohmygodohmygodshitshitfuckshit_ rattling under his skin. 

Donghyuck is climbing over the railing. Jaemin doesn't think about how unsafe it is; considers them lucky the pool goes right under the balcony so even if he slipped he'd at least hit water. Small victories. 

"Come on." Donghyuck urges, backpack strapped to his front. Jaemin clambers up on unsteady legs and resolutely does _not_ think about several things at once; the police squad down the hall, the leftover whiskey-champagne combo still churning his stomach and throwing his hand eye coordination off, the long, long drop below them. 

"On three?" Donghyuck says. Despite everything, he's smiling, like this is some video game. Like this is _fun_. 

Jaemin nods. 

On three, the balcony doors swing open and Donghyuck jumps. On four, an officer spots Jaemin, standing with his back to them, frozen, staring at ripples of water and the top of Donghyuck's head, yet to emerge from the dark blue depths. 

"Don't move!" A gruff voice yells. Jaemin turns to look at him; decides maybe Donghyuck was wrong about this, decides maybe, just maybe, Jaemin could never keep up with the almighty Lee Donghyuck. 

On five, a gunshot rings out. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


When Jaemin first agreed to help Donghyuck with what all of his friends and therapist (if he had one) would call a 'reckless, stupid stunt, basically a suicide mission', he'd not thought twice about it. His life sucked, he wasn't on speaking terms with his parents and he couldn't even get through a year of college. 

But there was Donghyuck. At the end of the day, there was always Donghyuck. The cheerleader for all of Jaemin's dumbest decisions, the cause of three hairline fractures in his shoulder, the reason he had cotton candy hair for an entire spring; all Donghyuck. Donghyuck taught him that the most important lesson in life was how to live without regrets and he never did; regretting only the doors he was too afraid to kick open. 

So he hadn't needed to think twice. He would follow Donghyuck to the edge of the universe, no questions asked, because he was both impulsive and fiercely loyal; the perfect combination to be Lee Donghyuck's unofficial sidekick. 

Maybe sometimes, just sometimes, only the absolute rarest of occasions, Jaemin should think twice before following Donghyuck.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Jaemin wakes up and sees a galaxy. 

"My face hurts." He says to the stars. The entire left side of his face is throbbing. He wiggles his toes and pain shoots straight up his spine. 

"Oh my fucking god." Donghyuck's voice is pitched high, hysterical. A head of soggy brown hair enters Jaemin's field of vision. "I thought you fucking died!" Donghyuck's yell comes out kind of breathless. 

Right. The heist. The police. Did he get shot? 

Taking note of his surroundings he marks off the soft, manicured lawn and the fact that both he and Donghyuck are dripping wet. 

"I don't think I did." He says, looking down at his body as if that could confirm anything. He can't see his backpack and- oh, Donghyuck is holding his hand. They're holding hands again. That's nice. "Did I get shot?"

Donghyuck just stares at him, shell shocked into silence. Jaemin's ears pick up yelling from inside the house, on the other side of the pool, and he opens his mouth to tell Donghyuck that they should most definitely start running while they're still ahead-

"Dude I think I'm in love with you." 

Jaemin's brain does the windows shut down noise. "What?"

"I don't know!" Donghyuck squeaks. His mouth flutters open and closed and Jaemin's brain is just- monkey with cymbals. Donghyuck shakes his head and some stray droplets of pool water land on Jaemin's nose. The back door rattles and Donghyuck snaps his eyes up. "We need to go, like, right fucking now." 

Donghyuck yanks Jaemin off the ground so hard he's pretty sure his shoulders pop, and they haul ass across the fucking ridiculously large back yard. The back fence still seems like it's miles away when a door bursts open and the shouts of police officers fill the calm night air. Donghyuck still has Jaemin's hand squished in between his own and they run closer and closer to the fence. 

Above the rushing in his ears, he thinks he hears Donghyuck laughing.

They reach the fence together. It's tall, with very little grip and not a single gap big enough to fit even their backpacks through. Donghyuck crouches down. "I'll boost you up." 

Jaemin, head sputtering with the out of left field thought that Donghyuck was about to pull a ring out of his pocket, stares at him for so long another gunshot goes off above his head. He jumps, "Okay." 

Donghyuck gives him a boost, unrehearsed, easy, and Jaemin pulls him up without toppling off his precarious perch or being shot again. A great team. They jump together. 

Jaemin's feet tingle with ground shock that bubbles up into his throat, into a giddy laugh as Donghyuck stumbles next to him, finding his footing on the other side of the fence. _We're alive, can you fucking believe it?_ "Holy shit." 

Donghyuck laughs and laughs and Jaemin does too, light, incredulous. They fucking did it. 

_Dude I think Im in love with you-_

"Let's go. There's a car close by." Donghyuck gently nudges him, lightly, away from the fence. _Ah ha. So he_ did _have a plan._

Jaemin's legs are still unsteady and the uneven ground on this side of the fence isn't helping. It's all forest and a sloping hillside down down down to the highway below - just one more wired fence to climb. There's a dim glow on the horizon - the beginning of an end.

"Where to now?" 

"You ask too many questions." Donghyuck snarks, exasperated, stumbling a bit when his foot gets caught on a tree branch. 

"So I've been told." Jaemin laughs.

* * *

They find the car when the sun is teasing the tips of Donghyuck's hair. They haven't heard much from the house they left and they haven't said much either, exhaustion playing catch up as they trekked down the hill side. 

When they reach the beat up ute Jaemin recognises from Donghyuck's uncle's front yard, he settles into the passenger seat without thinking twice and opens his backpack.

"Hyuck?" He calls. Donghyuck looks up from hot-wiring. "I think whisky saved my life."

He pulls out the bottle, empty bar the last few drops and a fucking _bullet_ , sunk deep into the thick bottle neck. The entire bag stinks of chlorine and alcohol and he really hopes the pearls won't disintegrate with the combination.

He could have died tonight, now is not the time to be a coward. 

"You're the only one I'd go on the run with." He blurts when Donghyuck just sits there, shell shocked. Jaemin can't even look at him; partially because the sun is right behind Donghyuck's head and he didn't think to snatch a pair of Gucci sunglasses in their rush. And partially because looking someone in the eye while telling them something important, like your feelings, like what they mean to you, is very much like staring into the sun.

"Really?" Donghyuck still has two live wires in his hand and doesn't seem to notice, voice gentle.

"Yeah dude, you're like. Everything." He fiddles with the whisky bottle.

"Not even Jeno?"

Jaemin can't help but laugh, the thought itself ridiculous. He finally faces the sun head on, feeling brave, braver after the night they've had. "Jeno? Committing a crime?"

Jaemin is fucking delighted to see that Donghyuck's cheeks have gone pink. "Stranger things have happened." He shrugs, twiddling with red and blue wires. 

"You're telling me. I got shot at and confessed to in under three minutes. Beat that." 

Jaemin knows it's never like Donghyuck to be anything but brave. "Well, I ran away with the love of my life." 

A gasp, could have been from either of them, and Jaemin is still staring straight at the sun when he says: "Me too."

  
  


* * *

  
  


The Cranberries' 1992 debut single _Dreams_ is blaring through the speaker by Jaemin's leg when Donghyuck pulls the car over, early sunlight in his hair and kisses Jaemin straight on the mouth. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos much appreciated! [twitter](https://twitter.com/transgyu?s=09) | [cc](http://curiouscat.me/wuju_lbx) | [commission info](https://twitter.com/transgyu/status/1201675317565280256?s=19)


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